The Heinrich Maneuver
by roadtoforever
Summary: Just when Ellie thinks things will resolve, her whole world starts to spin. Addison/Derek, Mark/Ellie, Meredith/Finn. Chapter Three posted!
1. My Way Home

**A/N:** God only knows why I'm doing this. Keep in mind this is a sequel to a story that had an ending that came out of nowhere, so that'll get resolved a little, and you'll see some changes in the characters based on how they've progressed on the show (or shows, I guess). I hope you enjoy it. - M.

**The Heinrich Maneuver**

**My Way Home**

July 4th, 2035

2:00 PM

There's something about sitting at the singles table that makes her feel more lonely than anything else. She should be at the table with her family and her friends, but she's not sure how they'll receive her at this point. It's been twenty-two years and she knows at least Addison will be mad. Maggie and Parker too. She settles the Dior sunglasses over her eyes and leans in to her chair, taking a sip of her punch. Her disguise isn't very good, but her hair is still black and the sunglasses at least hide her eyes, so she figures if anything she'll be able to hide until most of the guests leave and she can talk to Mark.

He saw her as soon as she walked in to the church. _Black hair and sunglasses don't hide anything, El_, he thought, watching her sit down in the back of the church on the brides side. _I'd know that body anywhere._ When he walks Casey down the aisle he has to resist the urge to tell her that her mother is there, but he's proud of himself for keeping it quiet. The ceremony goes well and when they make it to the hall, he sees her sit down at the singles table, which is where he figured she'd be.

"Daddy?" Casey comes up behind him and rests her hand on his shoulder. "Who is that?"

"Hmm?" He turns and smiles. Every time he looks at her she takes his breath away. His daughter looks just like her mother, and even more beautiful in a wedding dress. "Who is who, sweetheart?"

"That woman? Black hair, sunglasses? Did you invite her?"

"Oh." He nods. "I did. I hope that's alright."

"Of course." She smiles and kisses his cheek. "It's nice to finally see you dating someone."

He nods. "Sure."

"Ask her to dance, Dad." She smiles. "And then introduce me. Maggie and Parker will probably want to meet her too."

He nods, and when Casey finally heads back to the table where Elliot is sitting he heads across the hall to the singles table. He sees a smile cross her face and when he reaches the table, she stands.

"You look very handsome in that tux, Mark Sloan."

"And you, Eliot Grey, look stunning in red." She smirks. "Would you like to dance?"

"Of course." He laces his fingers through hers and leads her to the dance floor. "I'm back for good this time."

"You are?" He pulls her into his arms and leads her around the dance floor, completely unaware that his friends and his children are watching him. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure. The last man in the family that wasn't dead or in jail was killed three nights ago."

"Three nights ago? Where have you been?"

"Oh Mark, this week isn't about me, it's about Casey and Elliot. I can't just...show up."

He sighs. "I know. I'm glad you're back now though."

"Me too." He leans in to kiss her, but she turns away. "Mark..."

"What?"

"People don't know it's me."

"I don't care." He moves her chin back so that she was facing him and presses his lips gently to hers, waiting until she lets out a sigh and opens her lips to continue any further. "I love you," he whispers as he pulls away.

She smiles softly. "I love you too."

* * *

7:00 PM

When Casey and Elliot get ready to head out of the hall, Mark is nowhere to be found. The womens bathroom is locked, and Derek is crossing his fingers that Mark is finally getting laid when a woman he doesn't think he's ever seen before comes out of the bathroom. She's got sunglasses on her head and her hair is dark, but she looks a little familiar, so he stops her as she tries to duck back in to the hall.

"Excuse me, have you seen Mark Sloan?"

"Oh, um. No." She smiles and heads past him.

"E-ellie?" She pauses, and turns slowly. "Oh-oh my god."

"Please don't say anything." She says softly. "I'm not ready to tell everyone yet."

He pulls her aside. "I don't understand."

"Derek, I'll explain everything later. Today is Casey and Elliot's day."

"I know it is. But Ellie..."

"It's very complicated, Derek. I'm going to sit down with everyone and explain everything, I promise."

He sighs and touches her arm. "Does Mark know?"

"Yes," she closes her eyes. "He's known all along."

"He-he has?"

"Yeah." She sets her hand on top of his. "I'm sorry, Derek. I'm going explain everything very soon."

He nods slowly. "Alright." He kisses her cheek. "You look good with dark hair."

She laughs. "Thanks."

"So _have_ you seen Mark?"

She grins. "He's still in the womens bathroom."

"I knew it!"

* * *

July 16th, 2035

6:00 PM

Her whole world is different now. Her children are grown-up, her boyfriend is retired, and she even has grandchildren. Mark lives in New York, but kept her dad's home as a summer home for him and the kids. Maggie and her husband live in Washington, DC, while Parker and _his_ husband live in Boston. Casey and Elliot are in Seattle with the rest of the Shepherds. Her family is spread across the country, but Mark tells her that all three kids are happy, and that is all that's important.

She explains everything to Addison, Derek, Meredith and Finn first, because she wants her children to be together when she tells them. Addison and Meredith are the most upset, but they come around to the idea of having her back. Addison even joins Ellie at the Salon for a girls day when Ellie decides she needs to dye her hair back to it's natural color.

When Casey and Elliot return from their honeymoon, Mark invites all three of their children over for dinner the night before Maggie and Parker and their families head home. Ellie spends the whole day pacing back and forth, worried about what her children will think.

"Dad?!" Maggie's voice carries up the stairs and Ellie lets out a breath. "We're here!"

"I'll be right down!" He sits down on the bed next to Ellie and squeezes her hand. "Everything is going to be okay."

"I hope you're right, Mark."

"I'm always right." He smirks and then frowns when she starts to cry. "Ellie..."

"I'm so scared that they're going to hate me..."

"They'll understand. They're adults." She nods slowly, but can't stop her tears, so he pulls her into a hug, rubbing her back. "Everything is going to be fine, baby, I promise."

He heads down the stairs a few minutes later, letting Ellie fix her make-up before she comes down to see the kids. Maggie, Parker and Casey are in the kitchen talking, and he can hear their husbands talking in the front room. He sits down at the counter and Casey hands him a glass of wine.

"So, what is the purpose of this dinner?" Casey asks, fiddling with her still new wedding ring.

"I want you guys to meet someone."

"That woman that was at the wedding?" Casey smiles. "Oh Dad, that's great."

"Yeah." He takes a gulp of wine and lets out a breath.

"Is everything alright?" Maggie asks, sipping from her own wine glass. "You seem nervous."

"I am." He admitted, smirking. "I want you guys to like her. I mean...you've met her before, but it's been many years."

"And old friend?" Parker asks.

"You could say that."

"Does she drink red or white?" Casey asks, pulling a wine glass out of the cabinet.

"I don't drink." Ellie's voice comes in to the kitchen and Mark looks back at her, smiling before he turns back to the kids.

Maggie looks at Ellie, then at Parker, and then back at the woman standing in the doorway. "M-mom?"

Ellie bites her lip. "Hi sweetheart."

"Oh...oh my god." Maggie reaches for her brother, whose pale complexion matches the refrigerator he's standing in front of. "What...I-I don't understand."

"I've been in hiding for the last twenty-two years. One of my patients...his family was connected with the mob and when he died...they came after me. I had to go away."

"For twenty-two years?" Parker's voice cracks and Ellie nods. "Couldn't you have taken us with you?"

"I wanted to, and your father tried to get me to change my mind, but I didn't think it would be this long. I thought it would just be for a couple of months; a year at the most." Ellie lets out a breath. "I thought about you guys every day. Your father sent me pictures and updates about you...I wish I had been here. I do. I've been at all of your graduations, and all of your weddings, but I couldn't let anyone see me."

"What changed?" Parker squeezes his sisters hand. No one notices that Casey is still gripping tightly to the wine glass.

"The last member of the family died a few weeks ago. Everyone else is already dead, in jail, or doesn't want anything to do with me." Ellie lets out a breath. "I don't expect the three of you to forgive me right away. I know I hurt you, but I didn't want to have to relocate you and make you change your names for just a few months. I-I was looking out for your best interests."

No one says anything for a while, but before Ellie can say anything else, Maggie crosses the kitchen and wraps her arms around her mother, breathing in deeply. "You still smell the same." She whispers, tears on her face.

Ellie smiles and hugs Maggie tightly. "You're so beautiful, Maggie. And you looked gorgeous at your wedding, and at Casey's wedding. And I'm so proud of you." Maggie grins and steps back, giving Parker a chance to hug their mother. When Ellie finally lets go of him, she turns to Casey, who has finally set the wine glass down. "Hi."

"H-hi." Casey tucks her hands in her pockets. "I, uh...I don't know what to say."

Ellie smiles. "It's alright. Me neither." She takes a step towards her youngest. "I wish I'd been able to hold you for more than a few hours."

Casey immediately starts to cry. "M-me too." Ellie pulls her into a hug and rubs her back as her daughter cries into her shoulder. Mark and the other children leave the kitchen, settling in the living room with the others while Casey and Ellie talk.

Dinner is delayed, but when David, Tom and Elliot meet their mother-in-law, everything seems very comfortable. The men in her children's lives are gloriously decent men, and Ellie tells Mark that night that he's done a wonderful job raising their children, because clearly they not only picked good men, but they were successful and beautiful.

She also cries herself to sleep.

* * *

July 18th, 2035

2:00 PM

"So how did they take it?"

Ellie sighs. "Good, at first. Maggie cried, Parker hugged me, and Casey..." Ellie looks down, fighting tears. "She was so sad."

"Sad?"

"She'd never met me. I expected her to be sad, I think."

"You think?" Addison laughs. "How is she now?"

"Good, I think. I feel horrible for springing this on her right after she got married, but you raised a good young man, he's great with her."

"I raised more than just a good young man."

"You're right Addie." Ellie smirks. "He's wonderful."

"No, Ellie..." Addison sighs. "I helped raise Casey too. I changed her diaper, I took her to pre-school, I helped her put her dress on at her wedding...I raised that little girl, I raised all of your children!"

"Addison..."

"No." Addison clenches her jaw. "I helped Mark raise those children because you left. You left!"

"I had to leave. I didn't have a choice!"

"Except you did, Ellie. You could have told us, and you could have taken your whole family with you, but you didn't. You chose, on your own, to go in to Witness Protection, and you left all of us to flail around without you."

"Flail around?" Ellie scoffs. "Addison, you were always the strongest one in our relationship. I thought you would be okay!"

"I _wasn't_! I lost my best friend and went from raising four children to raising seven. Mark was not prepared to raise those kids, and Meredith and I weren't prepared to lose you."

"Don't bring Meredith in to this."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know anything about my sister! And you don't know anything about Mark. I'm sorry that you had to help raise my children, but I'd rather be alive now than dead, and the only way to do that was for me to disappear for a while."

"I don't think it was." Addison sets money for her lunch on the table. "I think if you'd really thought about it, you could have at least raised your children."

"Look, Addie, I regret not being able to raise them..."

Addison shakes her head. "I don't believe you." She stands, throwing her purse over her shoulder. "And I'm surprised anyone else does."

* * *

8:00 PM

Mark is sitting on the couch when she finally arrives home. He's clearly worried; she can see it in his eyes when she looks at him.

"I'm fine." She says softly, hanging her jacket up.

"Well that's good." He crosses his arms over his chest. "You've been gone for hours. Derek said Addison arrived home at 2:30."

"That's wonderful." She hangs her purse on the coat closet doorknob and heads up the stairs.

"Ellie..." He follows her, suddenly even more worried. "What happened?"

"Nothing." She's undressing when he enters the room, and he leans against the doorjam, watching her. "Stop staring at me."

"I just want to know what happened."

"Nothing." She snaps, turning to face him. He sees the 'M' she'd had tattooed on her hip peeking out over the top of her panties and grins. "Stop smirking at me."

"I'm not." He smirks on purpose and she heaves a heavy sigh and heads for the bathroom to shower. "El, come on!"

"Mark, just leave me alone." She shuts the door in his face and turns on the shower. She stares at herself in the mirror, running her fingers through her dirty blonde hair. She looks the same as she did twenty years ago, just with a few more wrinkles and boobs that sag a little more than she'd like. When she finally gets in the shower, the water is scalding hot, but she doesn't really notice. The fact that it's burning her skin even makes her feel a little better.

When Mark notices that she's been in the shower for more than 30 minutes, he ducks into the bathroom to check on her. He can't see the outline of her body in the shower, so he opens the door and finds her sitting on the shower floor. "Ellie?"

She turns to look at him, and he can't tell if her face is wet from the shower or from crying. "D-do you hate me?"

"Of course not."

She turns away from him. "Don't answer so quickly!"

He sighs and sits down next to her, not bothering to turn off the shower or take off his clothes. "I _don't_ hate you. I could never hate you."

"But I left."

"Yeah, and I hate _that_, but I don't hate you. I hate that your patient's family felt the need to come after you, and I hate that the police couldn't find another way to help you. And you know," he sighs. "I don't like the choice that you made, leaving me and the kids, but it would have been worse if someone had hurt you." She turns back to him and he realizes that she's sobbing. "Ellie I love you so god damn much it hurts. Please don't cry." He slides towards her, feeling the lukewarm water beat down on his shoulder as he pulls her into his arms. "It's going to take people some time to get used to you getting back, because you had to lie to protect them, but I will never hate you. I promise."

She buries her face in his shirt and they sit in the shower until the water is so cold they're both shivering. Once they're curled up in bed and he's running his fingers through her drying hair, she asks him if he'll finally do her the honor of letting her share his last name.


	2. Get Out of This Town

**A/N: Here's the second chapter. I think this is going to go in a direction most of you weren't expecting, though you might not see the real changes for a few chapters. I hope you're all liking it, since I got a lot of hits but not many reviews. – M.**

**The Heinrich Maneuver**

**Get Out of This Town**

July 20th, 2035

12:00 PM

It wasn't that Ellie had expected the outbursts to stop when she got to the hospital, though she had hoped they would slow down. Instead Miranda yells at her, George throws a suture kit at her and won't speak to her the rest of her visit, and Izzie cries so hard Alex has to give her oxygen.

When she arrives home from Seattle Grace, hours earlier than Mark had expected her to; he immediately knows something is wrong. Despite his discomfort with the fact that Ellie and George had remained close after their break-up, he'd been prepared to spend all day without her because she would be at the hospital with O'Malley and Stevens-Karev, and is shocked when she walks past him and up the stairs. He follows her up to their bedroom, standing in the doorway and watching her undress again.

"Is this how you're going to react to every outburst from someone?" He asks softly. She turns, frowning and he sighs. "You've been crying a lot. And you usually do it in the shower…"

"Meredith and Finn's granddaughter Anna spit-up all over me. I was just getting the baby smell off of me." She snaps. "But I can go cry in the shower if you'd like."

"El…"

"Mark, this is hard for me. All of the people I missed so much aren't even happy to see me."

"Well, it's been 22 years, El."

"There's really no need to remind me. I know."

"Well you don't act like you know."

"Excuse me?" She slips his 'UW Father' sweatshirt over her head and pulls a new pair of jeans on before sitting on the bed. "I hate that I was gone this long, Mark. I'm an isolated being, here. I'm the odd one out because everyone else has been to graduations, weddings and the births of children and grand-children. I'm just trying to get back in the loop, when all I really want to do is start over."

Marks face falls. "W-what?"

"With you," she says softly, standing and crossing the room. "I want to run away and start over with you. Why can't we do that?"

"Because we have three children, five grand-children, best friends; god-children…I can't just up and leave my life like you did, Ellie…"

"You think that was easy for me?"

"I think it was what you'd been waiting for." He says softly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think that you loved me, and you loved the kids, but you needed something different and the FBI provided you with the perfect excuse."

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" He sighs. "I love you, I've missed you, and I'm glad you're back, so I'm trying really hard not to be mad at you for leaving, but someone needs to be. So you know what? I can't comfort you when people yell at you anymore, because I'm glad they're yelling at you. Someone has to."

"Mark…"

He kisses her cheek and heads in to their bedroom, snagging his pillow. "I'm going to sleep in the guest room tonight."

"Please don't, Mark. I can't sleep without you."

"You slept without me for 22 years, Eliot. One night won't kill you."

* * *

2:00 PM

"How are you holding up with all of this?"

"As well as I can, I suppose." Addison mindlessly stirs her cup of tea with the spoon in one hand and pushes her salad around on her plate with the fork in the other. "It's weird having her back."

"It is." Meredith checks her phone when it beeps and responds to the text message from her youngest daughter before turning back to Addison. "And Derek?"

"He seems weirdly thrilled. He likes to pretend she hasn't been gone this whole time and I don't understand it." She sighs. "When Ellie died…or when we thought she died, he took it pretty hard. He wouldn't let go of me for days, afraid he would lose me to the birth of our son just like Mark lost Ellie. Now he seems perfectly okay with it and I can't…I can't be okay with it."

"I can't either." Meredith pushes her tray towards the center of the table and leans back in her chair. "I guess she was here this morning. George is raging mad."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Alex had to take Izzie home because she was so upset, Miranda has turned into the Nazi for the day, and Lexie is so confused it's barely worth attempting to explain. And the kids…they're all so confused, especially the little ones."

"Maggie said that Hannah doesn't really believe that Ellie is…Ellie. She thinks Maggie and David are trying to convince her that this random woman is her Grandma Ellie."

"She didn't really think through the fallout of this, did she?"

"She's Ellie. She barely thought about anything."

The two women sit silently at the table for a few minutes before a tray slams down between them and Lexie O'Malley sits down with a huff. "This is the worst day."

"How's George?"

"He's at home. He's having a fit, and I don't even understand what's going on."

"How much do you know about Eliot Grey?" Addison asks, taking a sip of her tea and grimacing when she realizes it's cold.

"I know she's Meredith's half-sister…and I know she was with Dr. Sloan before she died…or whatever." Lexie sighs. "That's all that I know about her though."

Addison nods. "I suppose we'll have to start from the beginning then."

* * *

7:00 PM

When Lexie arrives home, George is curled on the couch flipping channels, pausing only briefly when Thatcher, their youngest, screeches for him to stop on a baseball game for the scores or something equally uninteresting to his father.

Lexie greets them both and when George doesn't respond, she asks her son to head to the kitchen and call his favorite Chinese place for dinner. The 13-year-old grins and struts out of the living room, his lanky figure looking more like his late grandfather every day.

When Thatcher has left the room Lexie sits down next to George, taking the remote from him and muting the television. "Meredith and Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd told me more about Ellie today."

"Her name is Addison, Lexie. Stop acting like an intern."

She lets out a breath. "I know you're upset, but insulting me isn't necessary, George."

"Lex…"

"They told me everything. They told me that you fell in love with her, that you two almost adopted a child together, that she lost her memory and you stood by her the whole time; they told me that she left you for Sloan and that you were still in love with her when she left for New York and barely over her when she died a few years later." She runs her fingers through his thinning hair and he rests his head on her shoulder. "They told me that she tries to think of others but usually doesn't succeed, that Addison is her best friend but they hurt each other more than Meredith and I have hurt each other; that Addison slept with Mark and Ellie slept with Derek and it's still the one thing they can't talk about, but it all came out when you were with her and you _still_ stayed with her. Meredith told me that Ellie's high school sweetheart came on to her when she first started dating you but that Ellie was so sure she was in love with you that she turned him down. Addison told me that Ellie had nightmares, and probably still does, but you would stay up all night on her bad nights because you hated seeing her toss and turn." He sobs into her shoulder and she hugs him tighter, running her fingers over his back. "George, I understand now. You were devastated when she died, you rebounded on Callie Torres, then Izzie, and when I finally got you, you were over Ellie, but she's always been hanging around in your heart, hasn't she?"

"I guess so," he says softly, turning red when she wipes the tears from his cheeks. "Even when she picked Sloan over me, we stayed friends. We talked all the time, I'd call her and she'd pick up, even if it was three in the morning over there, and she would do the same with me. For weeks after her death I would call her phone just to hear her voice on the voicemail and when it was finally shut off I pushed myself into my work."

"It hurts to lose someone."

"I didn't know how to deal with it. She was there for me when I lost my Dad…I didn't know who to turn to when I lost her."

"Are you mad at her?"

"I want to hug her and invite her over for dinner and let her sleep on the couch so we can talk for hours." He sighs. "I want her to be your best friend too, and I want her to meet our children and be their favorite Aunt, but…I can't. It's not real yet, and I…I don't know what to do."

"I think you should do exactly what you want, George." Lexie smiles softly. "I think you should hug her and invite her over for dinner and talk to her for hours and let her meet the kids and let her become my best friend." He grins and she swallows hard, taking a deep breath. "I need to ask you something first though."

"Okay."

"Are you still in love with her?"

He shakes his head. "I love her. I will always love her. But Alexandra Caroline Grey-O'Malley, you are the only woman I am truly, madly in love with."

She laughs softly. "Good answer."

* * *

Addison hears the laughter as soon as she walks in to the house. The giggle of her best friend (former best friend?) makes her whole body heavy, and when she sees Ellie and Derek sitting on the couch laughing, she grits her teeth.

"What are you doing here?"

Ellie looks up, smiling. "Oh, hey Addie."

"Why are you here?" She snaps, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ellie frowns. "I, uh…Derek and I were just talking. He was telling me about the letters the two of you wrote to me…I wrote some too."

"You showed her the letters?" Addison's voice cracks and she can feel the tears building in her eyes. She feels horribly betrayed.

"I thought you'd want her to see them."

"No. I don't want her to see them."

"Oh," Derek looks shocked and confused. "Addison, I don't really understand…"

"Get out."

"What?"

"Eliot, get out of my house."

"Addie," Ellie stands, walking towards her. "I know you're upset."

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE." She snaps, stepping backwards. "And stay the hell away from my husband."

"He's my friend!"

"I don't care! Get out!" Ellie nods slowly and leaves, the stack of letters she'd brought to Derek still sitting on the coffee table.

"Addison, what the hell is going on?" Derek asks, watching out of the corner of his eye as Ellie gets into her car and pulls away from the house.

"How can you just…be friends with her?"

"Because she's our friend…" He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"She is not our friend, Derek. She betrayed us."

"She needed to protect herself, and us."

"That's bull-shit. She did it to get a new life."

He sighs. "Maybe she did, but you missed her."

"I missed Ellie. That woman, the one that was just here, she is not Ellie."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"How can you pretend that this isn't a huge deal?"

"She's never really been gone, Addie." He presses his hand to the left side of his chest. "She was here the whole time." He presses his hand just above Addison's left breast and she smacks at his arm, glaring at him. "She was there too. She was never really gone." He picks up the letters. "She was here, in these. She was in the videotapes you would watch at two in the morning when you didn't think anyone was awake, she was in the water guns you still have, and in all of the pictures that you would spend your birthday staring at." He reached for her hand but she pulled away, stepping further into the foyer. "Addison, I don't understand how you can't be happy to see her."

"She lied to me. She left me alone, that's how." She crosses her arms over her chest. "How can you act like she hasn't been gone for twenty-two years?"

"Because she hasn't been gone for me. She's been standing next to me through everything, and having her back makes everything okay again."

"You're delusional."

"I am not."

"Be friends with her, spend time with her; sleep with her for all I care." He rolls his eyes and she clenches her fist. "Do not roll your eyes at me."

"You're being ridiculous."

"I am not. You want to be friends with her? Fine. You can sleep in the guest room."

"Addison…" She shakes her head and storms up the stairs. "Addie!" She doesn't say anything else the rest of the day, and when he finally ventures upstairs his clothes are piled outside of the master bedroom and the door to their room is locked.

* * *

August 1st, 2035

2:00 PM

"Remind me again why we're going to this?"

"Austin is turning one, Mark. As his mother's god-parents, we are obligated to attend."

"He's just going to shove his face in the cake, which no one will pay attention to because of all the drama going on around here."

The unintentional dig hurts more than she thought it would, and Ellie sighs as she pulls up in front of Alix and Matthew's house in Bellevue. "I know you and I aren't very happy right now, but could you at least pretend to like me?"

"Jesus Christ, El, I wasn't talking about you."

"Bull shit, you weren't, Mark. The only drama around here is me and the fact that the only people talking to me are Lexie, George and Derek, which pisses Meredith, Izzie and Addison off on top of them already being angry."

"Maybe if you didn't spend so much time at the O'Malley's people wouldn't be so upset."

"Maybe if I had a boyfriend that actually cared what I did with my time then I wouldn't have to."

"Maybe he cares; he's just trying to process."

"Maybe he's had twenty-two years to process since he's known from the beginning and he's just using that as an excuse."

"I am not just using it as an excuse!"

"You knew I was coming back, Mark. You knew I was alive; that I was in hiding. I thought you would be the one person I'd have on my side in this whole thing."

"Well I guess you were wrong."

"I guess I was." Ellie snags her purse from the console between their seats and gets out of the car, slamming the door with force. Mark watches through the living room window as Alix hugs Ellie and takes the gift he didn't even know she'd picked out for Austin. Matthew and Alix's little girl Sheena comes running across the room and Mark smiles when the four-year-old launches herself into Ellie's arms and wraps her chubby arms around Ellie's neck.

"Hey!" Mark jumps when he hears the voice come through the window and lets out a breath when he sees Addison standing next to their car, her arms crossed over her stomach. "What are you doing?" She asks as he gets out of the car.

"Weighing the pros and cons of spending time at this thing."

She laughs. "Oh come on, it won't be so bad."

"Maybe not for you. Casey is mad at me because I'm sleeping in the guest room instead of the master bedroom with Ellie, the O'Malley clan is so in love with my girlfriend or whatever that it makes me want to throw up, and Ellie's mad at me because I keep making digs at her."

"You have the right to make digs at her."

"I know that," he says, tucking his hands in his pockets and shaking his head as they watch Derek kiss Ellie on the cheek and take Sheena from her, tossing his granddaughter up in the air. "And I think she knows that too, but that doesn't mean she enjoys it."

"Well no one enjoys stuff like that, Mark."

"Thank you, Addison." She laughs and he sighs as he watches Ellie talk animatedly with Derek. "Maybe we should sever ties with our significant others and run away together."

"Oh right, because that's an excellent plan."

"Well they love each other so much, I'm sure they'll be fine."

Addison rolls her eyes. "I'm going inside before you say anything incriminating."

He sighs and follows her inside, putting a grin on his face as Maggie and David's oldest, Hannah, comes running at him to tell him about new things going on at school. Spending time with Hannah reminds him of how much he loves his grandchildren and that even with all the drama, the little ones make it all worth it.

* * *

9:00 PM

"So I was thinking…" He starts, laughing when she wrinkles her nose.

"That's never a good sign."

"I think it might be this time." She nods slowly and he crosses over to the master bed, perching on the end. "What if we date each other?"

"Pretty sure we're already doing that, Mark."

"No, I mean…you asked me, a few weeks ago, to marry you."

"I did."

"And I never responded, because…because I'm scared."

"Scared?"

"I don't want you to leave again."

"I'm not going to."

He nods. "I know…at least, I think I know that, but I'm still a little scared."

"Okay…"

"So I think we should date. Get to know each other again; you know?"

"I guess."

"I want to know what you've been doing for the last twenty-two years, and I want to fuck you so bad…" she squirms a little and he laughs. "But those things don't really go well together, so maybe we should just start over."

"Start over, huh?"

"Yeah."

She smiles. "Okay. I can do that."

"I can move out too…"

"No." She shakes her head. "I don't want you to do that. You shouldn't even be the one that has to sleep in the guest room; I can do that."

"I don't mind, Ellie, really." He smiles. "I'll stay in the guest room, you stay in here, and we'll go on our first date this weekend." She nods and he smiles, getting up to leave.

"Hey." She stands, crossing the room and stopping in front of him, sticking her hand out. "I'm Eliot Grey. You can call me Ellie."

"Mark Sloan." He shakes her hand, smiling. "I used to know someone named Eliot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She was a little crazy."

She laughs. "Most of us are."


	3. Then I Woke Up

**A/N: Okay, I hope I'm not completely wasting my time on this story, because no one commented on the last chapter, so I'm not even sure people like this. If you do, a short comment would be much appreciated. This chapter gets a little confusing; there are a lot of names to try and follow, but I'll answer any questions I can without giving away the rest of the plot. – M.**

**The Heinrich Maneuver**

Then I Woke Up

She's been running for nearly 53 years, but it takes her time to get used to the hills in Seattle again. The first few times she takes a jog she has to stall at the top, take a breath and stretch her legs. Every once-in-a-while she'll meet someone at the top of the hill, stopping like she is, and the few times it's someone near her own age they share a laugh and move on their way. Mostly though, if there is someone there, she'll get an impressed look from a man, a jealous look from a woman, or a pitiful look from either. She's got a great body for a 59-year-old, but she runs into the occasional hardcore athlete that believes that anyone that needs to stop to stretch or breath is weak.

Early on the morning of her date with Mark she stops at the corner of Queen Anne and McGraw and stretches her legs on the rock wall of the gorgeous house on the corner. She's taking a breath and switching playlists on her iPod when someone taps her on the shoulder.

"Hi." Elliot takes a deep breath and runs his fingers through his dark curls.

Ellie laughs. "Hi. I didn't realize you ran around here."

"We live on the other end of McGraw."

She nods. "That's right. I knew that."

He laughs. "It's okay. My own parents still think Casey and I live in an apartment downtown. We're the babies; no one pays attention to us."

"Oh I'm sure that's not true."

He shrugs and tucks one earphone into his shirt. "Care to run with me?"

"Absolutely." They start along McGraw, taking it slowly and not speaking for the first couple of blocks. "How's Casey?" Ellie finally asks, turning her music down another notch.

"Good. She usually runs with me, but she started her last term of classes this week and she's exhausted so I let her sleep."

"That was nice of you." He shrugs, following Ellie around a corner. "I didn't realize she wasn't done with school."

"She took last quarter off from the University of Washington to finish planning the wedding. She'll start student teaching in the fall though."

"Wow." Ellie ducks under a tree and then swerves on to the sidewalk to give Elliot more room to avoid an on-coming car. "What's she going to be teaching?"

"Junior high. Those kids are brats though; I don't know why she chose that."

She laughs. "Casey seems like the kind of woman that can handle anything."

"She can." Ellie nods and Elliot watches her face fall a little. "She wants to know you, you know."

"She does?" He nods when she turns to look at him and then grabs her arm to keep her from running in to a fire hydrant. "I didn't think any of my children wanted to know me."

"I think they're upset, that's all. Casey does want to know you though. She just…doesn't know how to."

"I don't know how to either."

"Well, I guess that's going to be what takes the most time. Figuring that out." She nods and they turn onto another street, slowing down to brace themselves for the run downhill. "I think the weirdest part for me was meeting the dead woman I'm named after."

"Hey, Elliot is an honorable name." She says, smiling. "You should be proud to have it."

"Oh, I am. I just…never thought I'd be running through my neighborhood with the woman my parents loved so much they wanted their youngest to be her namesake." She stops and he slows, jogging in place. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I…" She takes a slow deep breath and then starts to jog again, not wanting to hold him up. "I miss your parents; that's all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Addison isn't really talking to me, and Derek _was_, but I think they got in a fight about it."

"Oh." He sighs. "Look, you probably already know this, but my parents are slow to warm up after someone has hurt them once."

She nods. "I know. I just wish I knew how to fix them."

He pauses at the bottom of Queen Anne Hill, knowing that it's where they'll be parting ways. "Just give them time. They'll come around."

"Thanks Elliot."

"Sure…" He laughs. "I don't know what to call you."

"Ellie works."

"What was your name in Witness Protection?"

"Lena."'

"Lena?" She nods. "Can I call you that?"

"Oh, I-I don't know."

He nods. "I'll think of something." He grins. "Have a good rest of your run."

"You too." He hugs her before he starts up the hill and when he's out of sight she decides to walk the rest of the way home.

* * *

"Dad, if you adjust your shirt one more time, you're going to rip it."

"How do you even know what I'm doing?"

"Dad…"

He sighs. "You are more like a girl than either of your sisters."

"Thanks." Parker laughs. "Everything's going to be fine, Dad."

"It's just…I want this to go right."

"I know."

"She's the love of my life."

"I know."

"And I really want to have sex."

"Dad!"

"What?"

"That's more information than I needed."

He laughs. "What if this doesn't go well?"

"It will."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"Do you really want to know everything about her last 22 years?"

"Yes."

"Then everything will be fine."

* * *

It isn't that dinner doesn't go well. At first it goes very well. They flirt across the table and they talk about their family, but when they move into the usual "first date" information, things start to get a little complicated. She knows everything about him. She knows that his father died when he was eight and that his mother, while still alive, has been an uninvolved parent since then. She knows that he has three children and five grandchildren, that he's got a place in New York and in Seattle and is trying to decide which one to sell; that he retired a year ago when he got tired of doing ass-lifts and boob jobs and now teaches at med schools periodically. These things are not new pieces of information to her, so when he finishes giving her a brief background he takes a breath and asks her, "What about you?"

"Mark, you know about me."

"No." He takes a sip of his wine and sighs. "Who are you _now_, El? Who have you been for the last twenty-two years?"

"Oh." She bites her lip, pushing her salad around on her plate. "Are you sure that you really want to know?"

"Yes."

She nods and takes a deep breath. "Lena Jamison."

"That was your name?"

"Yes. I grew up in Chicago with my parents and two siblings, all of whom died in a car accident when I was twelve. My grandfather raised me after that, and died just before my 37th birthday. I've been a high school science teacher since I graduated from college, and when my grandfather died I went back to school to finish my masters degree and become a psychologist."

"A psychologist?" He smirks. "Soft science."

"That's nice, Mark. Not at all childish." He laughs and she smiles softly, running her fingers through her hair. "I got my PhD from Harvard University in 2017, and went to work at a Psychologists Office in Boston."

"Did you like it?"

"I guess."

"You guess?" She shrugs and he reaches across the table, squeezing her hand. "We can stop talking about this if you want."

"I—Can we? I'm just not ready to do this yet."

He nods. "Of course." She smiles and he leans across the table, kissing her. "We can take this slow, El. I want to know about you, but I don't want to do it against your will."

"Thank you." He nods, and they spend the rest of the dinner talking about their children and grandchildren.

* * *

When they arrive home, things are different. They could barely keep their hands off each other on the way _to_ the restaurant, but when they arrive home, Ellie is out of the car so fast that Mark barely hears her thank him for dinner. She's already shut in the master bedroom when he gets inside the house and he stops outside, listening to see whether or not she's okay.

"You have one new message." Her voicemail plays on speaker, and he leans against the door, wondering if maybe it was the phone call that changed her attitude.

"Hi baby." A man's voice comes over the speaker and Mark swallows hard, wrapping his hand around the door handle. "I hope things are going well in Mozambique, I haven't heard from you in a couple of weeks. I know you're busy though. The kids miss you, and I can't wait to see you. Only two more months! We're counting down the days. I love you, Lena."

Mark swings open the door, his face red. Ellie looks up, startled. "Who the fuck was _that_?"

She sighs. "That was John Henderson."

"Who is he?"

"He's my…he's Lena's husband."

His face falls. "You got _married_?!"

"Mark…"

"You said you didn't want to get married."

"I…look, things change."

"Things—things change." He lets out a breath. "Jesus, Ellie. We were still sleeping together while you were in hiding. Did he know that?"

"Of course not."

"So you were cheating on him."

"I saw you once every few years, Mark. I didn't think…"

"You never think!"

"Excuse me?"

"Everything is all about you, isn't it?"

"Mark, please."

"Get out."

"What?"

"You're a married woman. I don't want a married woman, with two other children, living in my house. Get. Out."

She takes a deep breath. "Can't we talk about this?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm not _ready_ to talk about it." He snarls, heading to the master bedroom closet and pulling out suitcases. "Pack your shit and get out, Ellie. You've hurt enough people with this whole thing, and I'm done."

"Mark, please!"

"No." He throws the suitcases on to the carpet and crosses his arms over his chest. "I _waited_ for you. You asked me to wait, and I did, thinking that you were doing the same, but instead you were whoring yourself all over Boston and getting married…I should have known. You're always thinking about what's best for you. I bet you have men in every corner of the country. How many aliases do you have, huh? Is it just Eliot Grey and Lena Henderson? Or are there more?"

Her face is white and she's shaking, but there are no tears as she stands. "That is completely uncalled for."

"No, I think it's perfectly called for. You've never been able to have just one man in your life. Well you know what? You've just lost me. I'm done with you, Ellie. I don't give a shit what you do with the rest of your life, just stay the hell away from me."

He leaves, slamming the door behind him, and drives around Seattle for hours, drinking from the bottle of scotch nestled between his legs. When he arrives home around midnight, she's gone.

He realizes around 2 am, as he's finishing his second bottle, that he hadn't actually wanted her to leave.

* * *

Megan Henderson has been the first one up every morning since her mother left for Mozambique. She starts breakfast for her siblings and starts the coffee for her father before getting in the shower. When she's out of the shower most of the rest of them are up, but she almost always has to wake Jack for school, though that's nothing new. Megan and her brother Jack spent three years in the foster system before Lena and John adopted them, and Megan has always had to care for her brother.

"Jack." Megan sits on the edge of the bed, shaking the 12-year-old's leg. "Wake up, kiddo."

"No." He mumbles, rolling on to his side and curling up in a ball. "No wake."

She laughs and slides up the bed, shaking his body. "You have to go to school. Mom would want you to." She watches Jack's eyes squeeze shut before he opens them slowly, sighing. "Sorry, I had to use it."

"That is a horrible card to play." He sits up, stretching and yawning. "How many more days?"

"We're at sixty."

"That's a long time."

Megan smiles. "We can handle it. Take a shower, you stink." He throws his pillow at her as she stands, walking out of the room and immediately getting bombarded by the youngest two; twins Lena and John adopted from the Ukraine three years ago. "Hi guys."

"Hi!" Melora grins, her two front teeth gone. "The toof fairy lef me a dollar!"

"Wow, that's great." Megan leads the six-year-olds into the kitchen, settling them at the table and handing them each their favorite cereal; Lucky Charms for Melora and Fruit Loops for Alexei.

When all of her siblings are around the table there are seven of them, counting Megan and their father. Kianga, who is from Kenya and is, at 13, the second oldest in the house, and Tyson, who is 9 and from a foster home in the US like Megan and Jack, are the last two to come to breakfast. The chatter at the table is loud, as always, but John manages to thank Megan for getting breakfast ready over the top of the noise. She smiles and heads out the front door a few minutes later to wait for her ride on the front steps.

"Megan," John opens the front door and leans against the doorframe. "Your Mom would be really grateful for all that you do in the mornings, you know."

"Thanks, Dad."

He sits down on the steps and kisses her on the forehead. "She'll be here in time to celebrate your birthday."

"She's not supposed to be back for another sixty days."

"She wouldn't miss your 16th birthday." He grins. "I promise, she'll be here." She hugs him and grins when she hears her best friends car honk from the street. "Have a good day." She kisses his cheek and hops down the steps, sliding in to the passenger seat.

John watches her go and makes a mental note to try calling Lena again.

* * *

"Ellie, you're only supposed to call if it's an emergency."

"It is! I have two families, Drew. I don't know what to do."

"Well, you're going to have to pick one."

"Which one?"

"I don't know, Ellie."

"That's not helpful!"

"Look, I don't really know what to tell you, but I suppose you're doing to have to decide which one needs you more."


End file.
